Marshals Say Israel's Girlfriend Helped Plan His Getaway

Debra L. Ryan, 45, was arrested Thursday afternoon at the Armonk home she and Israel shared, and taken to White Plains federal court. Authorities say she helped Israel pack a getaway RV and hide it at a highway rest stop to facilitate his disappearance.

Israel's abandoned car was found June 9 near the Bear Mountain Bridge in New York with the message “Suicide is Painless” written on the windshield.

At first it appeared that Israel, cofounder of the Stamford, Conn., hedge fund Bayou Group LLC, had committed suicide while on his way to a Massachusetts prison to begin serving a 20-year sentence for defrauding Bayou investors of more than $400 million.

But this week authorities ruled out suicide, in part because no witnesses saw anyone jump into the water.

The New York Post reports that since Israel's disappearance, Ryan has lied to investigators and withheld information, according to the criminal complaint against her. But this week, Ryan reportedly cracked and admitted to officials that she began helping Israel with his getaway plan on June 7.

U.S. marshals have put out a nationwide alert for Israel, who's believed to be driving a 2007 white Coachman Freelander motor home with a motor scooter attached.

Israel, 48, along with Bayou chief financial officer Daniel E. Marino, pled guilty to fraud charges in September 2005. Israel had shut down the hedge fund only months before, admitting it was a fraud.

According to the complaint, Ryan admitted that she went to an auto repair shop with Israel and helped him get the RV ready for his getaway. The following day, Ryan "helped Israel pack the RV with [his] belongings." On the morning he vanished Ryan followed Israel in her own car while he drove the motor home to a highway rest areas near the junction of Interstate 684 and Interstate 84.

After failing to find a body in the river, authorities labeled Israel a fugitive, rather than a potential suicide victim. U.S. marshalls issued a "Wanted" poster that says Israel should be considered "armed and dangerous."

"It looks like it could either be a suicide or a staged suicide, a fake suicide," said police investigator Bruce Cuccia, following Israel's disappearance. "Without a body, we don't have conclusive evidence either way." The message written on Israel’s windshield, “Suicide is Painless,” is the song that was sung during a fake suicide in the movie “M*A*S*H.”

Israel and Marino pleaded guilty to conspiracy, wire fraud and investment advisory fraud in September 2005. Israel admitted sending out false financial information to investors “which made it appear that Bayou was doing better than it really was.”

Following Bayou's public scandal, Marino, who was also sentenced to 20 years in jail, wrote a six page "suicide note and confession," although the never followed through on his suicide threat. Authorities used information in the letter in the ensuing investigation. Marino’s confession began by describing events in December 1998 on the last day of a bad year in the markets. Bayou’s losses had overwhelmed its gains for the previous two years. “The solution, devised by Mr. Israel and a lieutenant, James Marquez, was simple: produce a fake audit of the funds’ performance and try to make up the losses next year,” reported The New York Times in a story about Marino’s note.

Kirk Wright, who was convicted of a fraud scheme through his firm, International Management Associates, that cost investors tens of millions of dollars, was found dead in his jail cell in Georgia on May 24. Wright, who was awaiting sentencing and was expecting a lengthy prison term, had hanged himself. The death was immediately ruled a suicide.

In January 2002, former top Enron executive Cliff Baxter was found shot dead in his car after agreeing to testify before Congress in the case against the corporation. Although his death was ultimately determined to be a suicide, police at first investigated the possibility of murder.

When Japanese Internet company Livedoor allegedly inflated its finances to report a profit instead of a loss in January 2006, scandal ensued. The situation grew worse when Hideaki Noguchi, a businessman and close associate of Livedoor founder Takafumi Horie, was found dead of apparent suicide soon after the news broke.